The Montessori Foundation encourages schools to clearly set down their core philosophy and beliefs into a very specific formal written document, The Blueprint, and thereafter to use it as a road map in making decisions, setting new policy, and evaluating the educational program. This document explains the process of initially developing the Blueprint for the first time.
This document is based on a document from Tim Seldin titled “bluerint process.doc” and has been modified. The document was re-formatted to save pages for printing.
-DHP
Preparing a Blueprint of Core Values and Principles Of Practice for Your Montessori School
Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from several hundred different Montessori schools around the world. Experience has shown me that the most effective schools consistently show a strong commitment to an on-going process of self-study that involves not only the faculty and administration, but parents and older students as well.
The first step is to engage the general school community in the development of a detailed blueprint of the school’s fundamental values and beliefs.
Rather than begin with a blank page, we have found the process becomes much more manageable when a team of parents and teachers sits down with an example of another school’ s Blueprint. Each element is carefully considered, point-by-point, to determine how well it captures their own school’ s unique character. Does each statement work just as it is written? Can it be rewritten to capture the special flavor of this particular school? Or is a particular element inappropriate for describing this school’ s programs and atmosphere?
We began this work more than thirty years ago at the Barrie School in Silver Spring, Maryland. Our goal was to break away from the familiar jargon laden statements of philosophy so common in Montessori. After a great deal of self-study, we broke the school’s philosophy down into a comprehensive statement of our fundamental values and the core principles of our Montessori educational practice. They were intended to present a detailed picture of who we thought we were and what we stood for that could be used as a reference by the future school community over the years.
We’ve shared this document with hundreds of Montessori schools around the world, but the New Gate School was the first to completely rewrite Barrie’ s original work to create something fresh to reflect their own community’s vision. More than forty parents engaged in weekly meetings over a three month period; more than fifty hours. Having worked with many schools, we were deeply impressed by the enthusiasm, positive energy, and commitment that these people shared in their dreams for the school they were beginning to build
Once adopted by the school’s board of trustees, the blueprint can be used in planning for the future, setting policy, and evaluation of the school’ s facilities and evolving educational program.
In time every school drifts away from its original vision and core values, just as a sailboat will be eventually be blown off course by wind, current, and tides. Educational leadership can be compared to navigating at sea. It requires a clear sense of where you’re trying to go, close attention to where you really are, and periodic course corrections. A blueprint will give your school a tool that will allow you to remain true to your vision.
The secret of the Blueprint is that it’s useless unless there is a purpose behind it.
The blueprint is a document in which the Head of School’s and Board make a formal public commitment in writing to make no decision that is not consistent with the school’s Blueprint of Core Values. It is like the Republican Party’s Contract for America. We will live according to the following things, and agree to do these things.
The way it works is simple:
- The school schedules and guarantees that monthly Community Meetings of parents, teachers, administrators, trustees and interested students will be held throughout the school year, regardless of levels of interest and attendance.
- These meetings will be run along the lines of the Montessori Rules for Meetings and Decision Making.
- They will be led by a rotating facilitator, who will never be an Administrator or Board Member.
- There will be no elected board or officers. The meeting is a direct voice for the school community.
Any issue can be discussed, within a few guidelines:
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- We cannot discuss issue concerning a school family or student in the school.
- We cannot discuss the private affairs of any employee of the school.
- We cannot harangue, threaten, or attack anyon
- No one can be allowed to dominate the meeting. Everyone must be allowed to express his or her thoughts
Classroom and Community Meetings, as well as the Montessori Rules For Meetings And Decision Making.
We use this format for meetings to build partnership, communication, and trust. We use this approach for all meetings, including school community meetings, class councils, faculty meetings, faculty committees, board committees, and meetings of the board of trustees itself. These procedures include these elements:
- Those who have power and authority, such as administrators or board members, should never lead meetings. A volunteer ‘traffic cop’ who keeps communication flowing should facilitate meetings, but does not himself/herself participate in the discussion or debate.
- Select a facilitator for meetings who is good at the job and is trusted by all sides to be fair and effective. This role could be appointed or rotating.
- Agree to start on time and end promptly on time.
- Never say something that is not absolutely true. Everyone must earn and enjoy the trust of the group, but this is especially important for the Head of School. He or she must never lie, attempt to pass off a white lie, misrepresent, or fail to be open and honest. That does not mean that he or she must answer every question. It is appropriate to honestly say something like, “I don’t know yet” or “I just can’t address that without breaching this person’s right to privacy.” Tell the truth, the whole truth, as best you can. The truth will set you free!
- Never allow anyone to sabotage the process by disrupting, being sarcastic, or by attacking any one else. Never allow the faculty to discuss a parent, student or fellow faculty member disrespectfully or unprofessionally. As Head, you are a police officer. Use your power wisely and rarely, but when you must, do so.
- Allow the group to establish its own agenda. A volunteer scribe should write the topics that the group wants to discuss on a flip chart sheet that the entire group can see.
- Allow any member to add any topic to the agenda at any point during the meetini) Allow the group to decide which topics it wants to discuss and in what order. They may or may not wish to establish a time allowed for each discussionii) Any topics not finished as the meeting ends should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting and held over at the next meeting
iii) It is not inappropriate for you, as Head of School, to identify certain topics on the agenda as issues that must be addressed. That is your prerogative as the boss. Use it carefully.
- Have the group appoint a scribe, or historian, who writes out the minutes of the meeting as the meeting progresses on a flip chart at the front of the room so that the entire group can see what has been discussed and agreed upon. As pages fill up, tape the filled pages up around the room. The scribe should preserve the original sheets until the next meeting (in case her minutes are challenged) and should prepare a written summary of the meeting that is duplicated and distributed the day after the meeting is held.
i) Have the entire staff maintain a copy of each set of minutes from faculty meetings and committee reports in a three-ring binder.
The community meeting would the place where the board would normally introduce issues that will need to come before the board in the near future. This allows the community to hear the issue, listen to information about why this issue needs to be handled, consider how this issue would fit into the core values of the school as set forth in the Blueprint document, and gives them the opportunity to sign off with their support or to request a month to do some research and come back with it to the next monthly community meeting.
The community meeting would the official voice of the community as a whole.
The Community Meeting can also address questions or make official recommendations to the faculty, Head of School, or to the Board, knowing that each has agreed to respond to them following its next meeting.
Their response may be to explain that they need more time, or that they respectfully disagree; however, their response would be official and timely.
In each case, all parties would be expected to copy and paste into their communication not only a description of the question or recommendation, or response, but the specific numbered elements of the Blueprint that affect this issue.
Likewise, when the Board meets to make policy decisions, first it will ask if it has brought this issue to the Community Meeting to allow the stakeholders the opportunity to understand and respond to the issue under consideration.
Before the Board considers an issue, it will first identify and copy and paste into the minutes of the Board the numbered statements of core values and beliefs that should be kept in mind before discussion begins. When the Board does vote on an issue, the minutes of the Board will include the text and item numbers of each element that they found which applies to this decision.
The formal agreement is that the Board and Administration agree that they will make no decision that is not consistent with the school’s values.
The community will be challenged by the Blueprint process to participate in an ongoing monthly meeting of parents, teachers, and administrators throughout the school year.
These issues can be mundane, or very serious. Work can be done outside of the meetings, but recommendations or formal questions can only come from the Community Meeting itself.
It is a place where all stakeholders can come to be part of a conversation, make recommendations, or ask questions of the board.
The blueprint will be used constantly in Community Meetings. It will also be used by the faculty, board, and administration in their meetings.
Here is an example of the process at work.
After the winter break, a child became ill when he reentered his classroom when school resumed. Knowing that her child was exceptionally sensitive to many toxic chemical compounds, the child’s mother suspected that a carpet cleaning company had used a cleaning compound that had left a residue in the carpet that was making her child sick.
She came in to the office and expressed her concern. The Head of School, recognizing that the Blueprint requires her to take all such concerns seriously and with respect and courtesy, contacts the cleaning company. It turns out that the carpet shampoo can leave a residue in the carpet fibers if the operator does not manage to get all of the compound out of the rug. The solution is simple. The cleaners came back in and cleaned the rug a second time, this time using no chemicals. The expense for the second cleaning was covered by the school, even though it was not in the budget, because each child’s health and well-being supercedes normal budget priorities. The immediate problem had been solved.
At the next monthly Community Meeting, the child’s mother and several of her friends proposed an amendment to the school’s blueprint under section 5, facilities.
“No toxic chemical can be brought on to the campus without an advisory committee made up of volunteer scientists.”
The community meeting discussed this proposal and quickly agreed that it was impractical, because no doctors or scientists would be comfortable committing the time or assuming the legal liability.
So the proposal failed at the Community Meeting level,, but a somewhat amended proposal was made and supported. This amendment to the Blueprint stated that the school will attempt to avoid using toxic substances for cleaning or pest control, and in selecting materials for the finishing of new facilities, will seek finishes and floor and wall coverings, etc. that are not known to be toxic.
This proposal reached the board, and was approved into school policy as part of the Blueprint.
A few other changes in Board practice are vital to the success of this process.
First, the board has to agree to hold open meetings.
Two, the board has to agree before considering a motion to first review the Blueprint to see which of the hundreds of Core Values would influence a decision on this issue. Those values are set out, one thought per paragraph, and numbered. The board agrees to copy and paste them into the minutes of the board beneath the motion,
Three, traditional Montessori techniques of decision making must be followed consistently by the board. These techniques include the use of a facilitator, scribe, and process monitor; a consistent reminder of the board’s mission to preserve and protect the school as a Montessori program down through the years,
So to summarize, through the use of the Blueprint, the Board and Administration agree to make no policy that would be inconsistent with the core values of the school, and to be held up to public scrutiny and to remain accountable to the school community, even though the Head of School is the Chief Executive Officer and the Board is the highest authority in the school
By making this commitment, and by making decisions openly under public scrutiny, parents are free to challenge the Board’s or Head of School’s decisions on a basis of the School’s Blueprint of Core Values in an appropriate public forum. The Board and Head of School do not need to agree, but if challenged on the basis of the School’s Core Values, it becomes very difficult for them to defy the reason of the challenge, with the ultimate balance of power resting in their decision to continue to give the school their support.
Communicate this concept to the stakeholders.
Grandparents, alumni, administration, teachers, students, teachers, faculty, parents
As you prepare for your Blueprint Retreat, use Intensive communication to let people know what you are up to, why this is important, and how the process will work. Give people at least a month lead-time to allow them to understand what this is all about and to fit this in to their calendar if they are interested.
Send them a copy of a sample Blueprint by email (or print them out if you wish), the one from which you are going to start.
Emphasize the importance of this meeting. This is a watershed event in the history of the school.
Tell parents and teachers that if they can only come for an hour or two, that they should still come for as long as they can. The process is enlightening in itself, and people who stay for a few hours will often gain a new insight into the school and Montessori. People should feel comfortable coming for whatever amount of time they can invest. ‘If you care, you want to be there.’
- Send it home to all parents.
- Post it in the school hallway
- Post it on your website.
- Send home notes and emails reminding people of what is happening, when, and why
- Explain the process.
A Weekend Retreat
We recommend that that the process be done in a marathon weekend retreat, not spread out over many weeks. We find that there is a momentum that builds up over a weekend. When it is spread out, people tend to lose the thread of the discussions and how the Blueprint ties together.
Normally it is held in a comfortable setting that is convenient for the stakeholders.
A typical schedule will look like this:
Friday evening from 7:00 to 9:30 PM
Saturday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM
Sunday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Print out additional copies of the sample Blueprint to have on hand during the retreat.
Before you share with community, the board and head of school may want to go through the Blueprint to shape it somewhat to best fit their school.
The success of the experience depends on how good the facilitator is, and how much he or she really knows about Montessori education. The facilitator should be more of a teacher than just a facilitator.
The Blueprint Retreat is actually like a college seminar leading people, teachers as well as parents, to understand Montessori on a much deeper level.
The process is that everyone has a print out of the initial draft of the Blueprint, which h was posted on the schools website.
A scribe with a laptop connected to a video projector makes changes to the original text file as the group moves along. The entire group can see changes as they are made. Post the day’s work on your website so parents and teachers can see what has been accomplished.
Go through the numbered items on the draft Blueprint one item at a time.
The Facilitator leads from the front of the room.
The first item is projected on a movie screen, large enough that everyone can see it.
Participants take turns reading the next numbered item, and leading the group through the discussion:
“Does this value statement define what we believe, even if we are not currently living up to this belief in our daily practice? Are we prepared to commit ourselves to making this for real?”
Does it need something reworded or added in?
Or is it completely wrong for your school, and needs to be dropped from your Blueprint completely?
Go through the Bleuprint point-by-point.
The community must understand the structure of the Blueprint:
The nine sections of the Blueprint document are tied to the nine functions that we examine in a school for evaluation and accreditation:
- Educational program
- Faculty and human resources
- Facilities
- Finances
- Administration
- Governance (the Board) or ownership
- Recruitment and admissions
- Building school community – reducing attrition
- Fundraising – Sources of working capital
There is nothing magic in this way of looking at a school, Someone else could have more sections in their frame of reference, or less.
The first is the biggest: the Educational Program.
All great schools have a coherence of core principles and values that define their character.
The educational program should not be the arbitrary creation of the teachers who happen to be at the school this year. The program needs to be based on a central and clearly defined model, which is consistently followed from class to class, from one level to the next, and from year to year.
These fundamental defining elements of practice are non-negotiable. Teachers should be hired on the basis of the school’s conviction that they have the skills, experience, and personality to faithfully and effectively implement the school’s program by conscious design, not chance. Anything behind these core issues can be added in as well, so long as the addition is consistent with the school’s core values.
One of the unexpected benefits of the process is that is normally leads to substantially higher levels of reenrollment, especially at the ages where children typically tend to withdraw. It also tends to lead to a substantial increase in fund raising. It is not uncommon to see one or more major gifts come out of this process.
Obviously you have to provide a careful orientation at the beginning of the retreat, annd then review the mission from time to time as new people join in.
At first, people tend to struggle with the process. Generally, this is because the Blueprint is not a statement of what is true in the school today. It is a statement of what we believe, and to what we are prepared to commit the school. After the first hour, groups tend to move through the long document fairly quickly.
Don’t attempt to look at your mission statement first. Even though it comes first in the document, reviewing your current mission statement, or writing one from scratch, should come after the Blueprint has fleshed out the nature of the school. It comes last in the process because it captures the spirit of all the details in the governing document.
Section 1.1 is a summary of the headings that follow. Don’t get bogged down. Instead, move on to the following sections, and, as your refine them, be sure that Section 1.1 has the final wording that you approved.
By the way, The Blueprint is the first step in the International Montessori Council School Accreditation Process.
Once the Blueprint has been defined, we ask the participants to evaluate the school against this long, detailed set of standards..
Once the blueprint has been completed, the next step is to identify an initial list of your school’ s strengths and areas where you can begin to improve your programs and facilities.
This in turn should quickly lead to the next step, in which the school community begins to prioritize those tasks that your want to focus on over the coming year. These will be your short-term strategic priorities.
The last step involves the process of the formal Self- Study. It will be the most important and certainly the most difficult. It will require several committees and sub-committees which will each begin to focus in depth on one aspect of the school’s programs and facilities, asking itself these questions:
- If this were a perfect world and if your school had the resources to be the very best that it could be in this area, how would this program or these facilities have to look to be consistent with your school’ s vision as set forth in our blueprint?
- What does your school look like in this area today? How well are you doing?
- What do you propose to do over the next three years to improve your program or facilities to make them more consistent with your institutional blueprint? This last portion of each committee’s report should be very detailed and specific: tasks, cost, timing, who will supervise, how will you evaluate your progress.
